Wine me, dine me, party all night witme!
Our second day in NYC started off on a, well..., rather hungry note. I mean that quite literally, actually, as I can't remember whether it was the alarm clock or the sound of my stomach growling that woke me up. It was pretty obvious that there were absolutely no signs of all the steak, veal, lasagna that we had voraciously devoured the night before. I mean, none, nada, zip, zero, insert your own adjective here. It was as if our body had been working the night shift getting ready for the highly anticipated brunch event we had in store. *SMIRK*
Well, so what the hell did we have in plan? Why, dim sum, the mother of all brunches, of course ( at least in China, that is)! You might laugh, but I'd like to think that I have a pretty high standard when it comes to dim sum. Hmmm.... Then again, dim sum isn't exactly high quality food to begin with, so I suppose that statement really doesn't mean a whole lot. ^^; At any rate, in an attempt to get served the freshest of the batch, off we went to China town to start our day off with a 10:00 AM brunch dim sum at Jing Fong.
The food was really great! Tons of different varieties to choose right off of the carts, and there was a stationary table where different dishes were being served as well. I thought we had stuffed ourselves silly, but the dollar amount came out to be rather modest as well. If you're looking for some good dim sum in the chinky prefecture of NYC, I highly recommend the early brunch at Jing Fong!Even once we had finished saturating our taste buds with the renowned Cantonese delicacy, we craved something to top it all off. Maybe something cooooool to chill our taste buds, still warm and cozy from the aftertaste of all the greasy pork and shrimp dishes we had pigged out on. So we walked a couple blocks to the ice cream factory, and chilaxed a bit with a few cups of black sesame flavored Ice cream.
Once our taste buds were clear, our simple-minded brains turned to the highlight of the day:
Avenue Q at the John's Golden Theatre on Broadway. But the show time was still an hour or so away. So, in an effort to do something touristy to fill the gap, we went and visited the ground zero. I have to say, visiting the ground zero was quite surreal. Not only because it represented a huge political debacle, but just the idea of heading over somewhere to see a huge gathering of... well, nothingness, a heavily fenced void, if you will, just seemed like a bizarre crossing of complete meaninglessness and infinite meaningfulness. For me, it was hard not to draw parallels to the scene I had witnessed back in Seoul when I was visiting the remnants of the Sampoong department store disaster after the ridiculous incident that had brought about its collapse. Rest in peace ya'll... We would end up returning to ground zero the night before our departure in the hopes to see the twin beams, but unfortunately the beams had already been shut off at that time. Hmph... Next time, I guess.
After a humbling walk around ground zero, we returned to Broadway, quickly snagged a couple bags of fried street nuts, and stood in what I'd like to call "the line of stupidity." I'm sorry... Entering the theatre in a line to preserve order is one thing, but just standing in line before the door's even open seems flat out stupid, considering the fact that you've got designated seats. But I promised to be a good boy, so even though it wasn't until 10 minutes passed show time when they finally started to let people in, I didn't complain about a single thing. Aww, man... I'm sooooooo mature.Now I have to admit that I was somewhat skeptical of the show because it sounded like the musical was based on a lot of gimmicks. For one, with the whole muppet thing, it seemed like it would have less of the usual grandness that I tend to associate Broadway musicals with. Well, I was more-or-less right about the production being on the less grand side (although there was a brief moment of grandness), but I have to admit that it was very enjoyable. Yes, it was sort of gimmicky in the sense that the muppet handling impressed me more than their acting chops, but hey, if it's entertainment you're after, you'll get plenty of it, I guarantee it.
After the performance, we headed over to Bread and Olives to see if we can get our hands on some exotic middle eastern flava. Well, I dunno what came over the owner that day, but it was closed. Argh.... So we went on an impromptu scan of the surroundings and settled on Sukhadia's Gokul, which turned out to be possibly the best Indian Vegetarian joint I've ever been to. And the price was down right cheap! Although we kept reminding ourselves that we've got a Jean Georges dinner coming up in a few hours, it was hard not to go on a "oooh! try that! Whoa, how about this? Yeah, that, too! Uh-huh!" rampage with their elaborate menu options. I really can't say enough good things about this place. If you're in the theatre district, you should do yourself a huge favor and just go check this joint out!
By the time the dust had settled and we were full beyond our senses, it was pretty clear that we needed to burn all this stuff off before dinner. Well, what better way to burn off some calories than to walk the streets of Madison, and Fifth enjoying show windows full of super-duper-expensive designer garments that may not even have a price tag attached to it, cuz, as the saying goes, if you have to ask, you can't afford it. ;) Realizing that your broke ass can't afford the $400 cashmere Ferragamo shirt will do wonders when it comes to burning off those extra calories, I say. ;) But alas, the calorie burning activity came to an end at around 6:30PM as it was pretty clear that all the shops were either closing or had already closed. We then slowly hauled our heavy asses back to get ready for a night of exquisite culinary experience at the coveted Jean Georges.
Entering Jean Georges wasn't as intimidating as some of my friends would have it. As a matter of fact, it was rather anticlimactic. The interior deco of the restaurant seemed downright bland. I would have expected a lil more, but I suppose the theme could be "You idiot, you're here for the food!$@%#". Since they were only offering pre-set menus (or Prix Fixe, if you want to sound pretentiously French) I went for the "Jean Georges" 7 course, and Sun and Moon went for the "Summer" 7 course. I had already heard about the miniscule portions, so I wasn't surprised by that. What did surprise me, actually, was how full I was at the end of the meal! And that's not because I had a lot of food at Sukhadia, cuz I was already hungry by the time we got to Jean Georges. I have to admit that I wasn't particularly impressed by the "chewable portions" of the food they served, but I was damn impressed by the sauce!!!! I mean, man!! These French people really know how to make them sauce!! I found myself ordering more bread just so that I can dip them in the sauce until I licked every little drop of the sauce clean. Oh, and a word of advice to those who don't exactly get all tingly and jittery at the thought of sweet berries, chocolate and various types of syrups; pass on the dessert, cuz it just isn't for our types.
After the dinner, we changed back into our casual attire and headed to Shelter, known for the regular appearances of top-notch local house dancers. I've always loved dancing. I actually practiced regularly in highschool with my friends and even went on to put lil choreographies together so that we could all bust them moves at parties and stuff. In college I just loved clubbing in different cities, and as a DJ, I also got to work with quite a few dancers, as well. But up until then I hadn't really come across that much house dancing. So it was quite interesting to witness some pretty serious house dancers right in front of my eyes at this run-down joint. One thing I realized at the Shelter after a couple hours of dancing and watching is that house dancing is very conducive to, what's the right way to describe this.... Dancing like nobody's watching? What I mean is that break dancing and popping, for example, usually take the form of a solo, where people will make circles around you while you get to bust a move, and hip hop dancing looks best when done in pairs or groups (bumping and grinding included), but house dancing seemed like it was really a pure embodiment of the phrase "dance like nobody's watching". You can just let loose and go about your own damn business busting them steps and spins. I liked it. ;) Oh, and a word of warning. They can take a pretty big toll on your joints. Of course, that could just be me getting old, too. ^^ I guess it's time to stock up on those Glucosamine tablets! ;) Well, if you're interested in house dancing you should mos def check the Shelter out. Oh, and tell the ticket seller that you're on the e-mail guest list to get in for $15 before 1AM.
